Happy Ring Stacker Toy

I finally whipped together a little something for our coming bundle of joy! I saw this ring stacker a few months ago and thought it would be a perfect addition to any nursery.

When it comes to following patterns, I've got no expertise. I'll be honest, this one was not for the faint of heart. Once I "got it," the sewing went smoothly, but it took some trial and error on my part. At any rate, it's finished... ready to be thrown around and drooled on!

Wanna-Be

Since I was a little girl yearning for toe(point)-ballet shoes, I've wanted to go see a "real" production of the Nutcracker during the Christmas season. I've never been one for Broadway or musicals in general, but for some reason an official seat at the Nutcracker Ballet has always been an aspiration of mine.

This weekend my lovely sister got the two of us tickets to the Joffrey Ballet's presentation and it was all this old wanna-be-ballerina hoped for and more. Tutus and soldiers! Evil mice and the Sugar Plum Fairy! I relived my childhood dreams for 2 hours and wished I had never given up ballet. What was I thinking as a 12-year old!?

Jewish Coffee Cake

The holiday season brings with it an abundance of opportunities to bake and prepare delectable desserts for those you love (or work with)! My friend Celina and I had another baking extravaganza last night for a work party today. By popular demand I made the Pumpkin-Spiced Bundt Cake (recipe here), but Celina made these gems.

A family tradition, we altered the Camarillo's Jewish Coffee Cake and baked it in the form of mini-bundts. What could be cuter, I ask you!? We got carried away and doubled up the batch, so we had mama version of the minis. It seems there are many variations on Jewish Coffee Cake - all of which look delightful - but this one had chocolate chips and walnuts. In one's quest to make homemade baked goods that aren't dry and boring, this cake is a sure thing!


Camarillo Jewish Coffee Cake
Ingredients
2 sticks margarine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint sour cream
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup diced walnuts

Directions
1. With electric mixer, combine margarine and eggs. In seperate bowl, combine sugar, vanilla, and sour cream. Cream box mixtures together.
2. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. After cooling, sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).

Deck the Halls

There's something wonderfully nostalgic and grand about cutting down your own Christmas tree and lugging it home to decorate, especially for us city-folk! Our tree is up and making spirits bright inside and out with it's lights and ribbon beaming into our living room and onto the Chicago streets.

This sucker is drinking up water like no one's business, so I hope we can keep it alive through the season. Fraser Firs are becoming our staple family tree that I think we've committed to as long as we both shall live. They smell delish, have soft needles that hardly shed, and look like they are right out of a picture book.

When my sweet dog Molly was still alive, she would honestly stare at the tree when its lights were on for minutes on end. We like to think she was contemplating the meaning of Christmas, but I can't be certain. I'll definitely be staring at this one a lot this December.